Patson Daka’s Future in Doubt After Leicester City Relegation
Former Premier League champions Leicester City have been relegated from the top flight of English football, which means they will play the 2023/24 campaign in the EFL Championship. Zambia international Patson Daka must now consider his future at the club this summer.
Leicester City are relegated from the Premier League 😱
They’re the second team in the PL era to be relegated after winning the title 😨 pic.twitter.com/d3huiPKUbB
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 28, 2023
Daka signed for Leicester in 2021 on a five-year deal after the Foxes agreed to pay RB Salzburg £23 million for his services. The 2017 Zambia Sportsman of the Year scored 68 goals in the Austrian league which is what caught the eye of the English club.
In what has been a difficult season for Leicester, Daka was in and out of the starting XI. He was able to score four league goals, in what was a disappointing return for the striker. At the start of the season, he was backed by then-LCFC boss Brendan Rodgers as he was a regular in the Premier League ahead of Jamie Vardy.
When Rodgers left the club and Dean Smith arrived, Daka had to settle for a place on the bench in the majority of the games the former Aston Villa and Norwich manager was in charge of. That meant he had little time to impact a game when he did see the field.
Leicester were able to win their final game of the 2022/23 Premier League campaign as they defeated West Ham United 2-1 at the King Power Stadium. However, that was not enough to climb out of the relegation zone. They were relying on Bournemouth to get a positive result against Everton, but the Toffees were able to prevail 1-0 to maintain their top-flight status.
Daka May Have a Big Decision to Make
If Daka does remain with Leicester this summer, he may be a player the Foxes rely upon to score the goals needed to help them gain promotion back into the Premier League, especially if they lose some of the players who have a relegation clause in their contracts.
Patson Daka has scored the fastest hat-trick in Austrian Bundesliga history!
Three goals in the first 11 minutes! 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/epKC8NRopQ
— GOAL (@goal) April 4, 2021
The Zambian reached 24 Austrian Bundesliga goals in the 2019/20 campaign, while in his final season with RB Salzburg, he found the back of the net 27 times in 28 league games. He has shown he can be the leading talisman if given the right opportunity.
Leicester will be expected to be one of the teams fighting for promotion in the 2023/24 Championship. They will encouraged by what Burnley achieved last season. After being relegated from the Premier League, they were crowned winners of the Championship with 101 points. The Clarets are now 500/1 in the betting for the Premier League next season, but the Bwin predictions of sports betting are likely to suggest they will be in the bottom end of the table on their return to the top flight.
Likely To Be Interest In Daka
Should Daka decide he wants to leave Leicester this summer, there is likely to be a lot of interest in his services. He was linked with Galatasaray in Turkey and AC Milan in Italy back in January, and those two clubs are expected to renew their interest this summer.
The decision Daka makes may depend on who oversees Leicester next season. The club needs to decide if they want to stick with Smith or make a change. If they opt to keep the Foxes boss, he is sure to have a conversation with the Zambian to inform him on how he fits into his plans.
The fixture list for the 2023/24 Championship is released on June 22, with the opening games set to be played on August 5.